Document processing devices include printers, copiers, scanners and e-mail gateways. More recently, devices employing two or more of these functions are found in office environments. These devices are referred to as multifunction peripherals (MFPs) or multifunction devices (MFDs). As used herein, MFP means any of the forgoing.
Toner used for printing on the MFP is a consumable that comes in replaceable toner cartridges from the MFP manufacturer. These replacement toner cartridges are often called original equipment manufacturer (OEM) cartridges. MFP manufacturers discourage the use of third party toner cartridges and toner. The use of third party toner cartridges and toner, or third party refurbished toner cartridges in an MFP can impact performance of the MFP or increase maintenance requirement depending upon the quality of the toner cartridge and toner. Inferior toner can require changes to EPU parameters by service representatives or users to obtain satisfactory prints. Users may attribute inferior performance of the MFP to the manufacturer, which can damage the reputation of the manufacturer, especially if the cartridge is a counterfeit cartridge that users identify with the manufacturer.
It is therefore desirable for MFP manufacturers to be able to detect if an unauthorized replacement toner cartridge has been inserted into an MFP. Various attempts to limit third party toner cartridge use in printers range from mechanical interactions, electrical sensors, microchips encoded with information to determine authenticity and so forth. However, third parties often find ways to circumvent such security measures, for example by duplicating codes and cartridge mechanisms, re-using parts from OEM cartridges, or otherwise defeating security measures.